Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Co-op - Being able to play with friends has always been a dream for Harvest Moon fans, and so am I. I always wished there was a Harvest Moon Online, it would be really cool!
Sometimes life as a farmer feels lonely in the Harvest Moon world and makes us quickly get bored. Eventually, we can marry the NPC AI (artificial intelligence).
But finally, we can play with friends in Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition for PS4 and Nintendo Switch with the co-op feature. Although it's just a local co-op, it's fine.
Unfortunately, Harvest Moon: Light of Hope for PC does not have a co-op feature for now. But there is always a possibility that this feature can be added in the future.
It's just, that there has been no official announcement from Natsume about whether you can expect this soon.
But on the ESRB rating, it says Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition for Windows PC platform.
Ceecee [Developer] herself says that currently they are focused on console versions, but they may have some surprises in the future for the PC version.
They always read feedback from the forum and take bug reports for potential patches in the future.
Okay, now for the main discussion...
Harvest Moon Light of Hope Special Edition: How to Play Co-op Multiplayer
To play co-op with your friends in this game, you must play this game yourself until the story in the game progresses.
If you ever read Mining Guide - Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, well it's similar to unlocking the mine.
The only difference is that you will meet a Gem sprite that lives on the 1st floor of the mine. That is Soleil, the second character you can control in co-op mode.
So you just need to...
- Repair the Gus's smithy
- Repair the mine
- Get a Hammer
- Get some Iron ore for Gus
- Go to the mine and meet the Gem Sprite on the 1st floor
- Place the Gem inside your house.
- Interact with them every day.
You can play with your friends if you have 2 controllers for the console you use because this is a local co-op.
According to Ceecee when answering a member question in the Steam discussion, you will always need a second controller because Soleil does not have an AI mode and is always intended to be controlled by a human. On the PS4, this also means logging into a second PSN ID or logging in as a guest.
You do not need to have two people controlling both the player and Soleil at the same time, however, you should put down the first controller and control Soleil if you choose her, within the vision of the main character.
Soleil has minimum base stamina, but you can hire her with additional stamina by offering gems. She will have more stamina if you give her a better gem (e.g. Ruby, Sapphire, Diamond, Pink Diamond, Soul Gem, etc).
It's a bit unfortunate that Soleil is completely useless without anyone to control her. Many players also wish for Soleil to operate autonomously based on the AI system.
I will investigate whether we can still control Soleil after marrying her. It would certainly be interesting if we could.
Update as of June 14, 2018: You can still control Soleil after marrying her, but if you don't, she will move to the sprites' house after your marriage, and you won't be able to control her anymore.
That covers everything you need to know to activate co-op multiplayer in Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition. Don't forget to check out other interesting articles I've written on this blog. Thanks!
Also read: 6 New Marriage Candidates in Harvest Moon: Light of Hope, Which One Do You Choose?